joe wright reservoir - colorado parks and wildlife survey summaries... · general information: joe...

General Information: Joe Wright Reservoir(150 acres) is a coldwater impoundment near the top of Cam-

eron Pass along side Highway 14.

Location: Larimer County, from Fort Collins take US-287/HWY 14 north 6 miles to HWY 14/Poudre Can-

yon HWY. Turn left and proceed up the canyon 55 miles to reservoir.

Recreational Management: Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife

Fishery Management: Coldwater angling

Purchase a Fishing License: http://cpw.state.co.us/buyapply/Pages/Fishing.aspx

Regulations

Artificial flies and lures

only

New Regulation: Bag and

possession for trout and

grayling is 4 fish. Bag limit

is in aggregate meaning

your combined total of trout

and grayling cannot exceed

4 fish.

Bag and possession for tiger

muskie is 1 fish at least 36”

From the confluence with

Joe Wright Reservoir to

Hwy 14, there is no fishing

in Joe Wright Creek from

Jan. 1—July 31. Bag, pos-

session and means of take

from the reservoir apply.

Non-motorized boating only

Ice fishing allowed

Joe Wright Reservoir

FISH SURVEY AND MANAGEMENT DATA

Kurt Davies - Aquatic Biologist (Fort Collins)

[email protected] / 970-472-4396

Amenities

Restrooms above reservoir

Previous Stocking

2013

Cutthroat Trout

Tiger Trout (Sterile Brook/

Brown Hybrid)

2012

Cutthroat Trout

Tiger Muskie

2011

Cutthroat Trout

2010

Cutthroat Trout

2009

Cutthroat Trout

* In 2004 - 50 female lake trout

were planted to help control

stunted grayling

Sportfishing Notes

Grayling

Fishing is usually slow from

ice off until after the fish

spawn

Fish typically spawn from

mid-June to mid July de-

pending on ice conditions.

Keep in mind, the creek is

closed to fishing to the

Hwy. until July 31.

Grayling will aggressively

rise to small flies fished on

the surface. Be patient, they

will frequently miss their

first attempt.

Winter

Use small jigs and flies to

catch cutthroat and grayling

through the ice, no bait al-

lowed.

Fish this lake early, The ice

gets prohibitively thick in

the later winter months.

Management Notes

Joe Wright is a high mountain reservoir managed for

cutthroat trout and arctic grayling. It probably has the best

population of grayling in the state. Grayling were originally

stocked into Zimmerman Lake (now cutthroat only), above

the reservoir. At that time Joe Wright was managed for a

specific type of cutthroat trout, the Eagle Lake strain. A

spawning channel was built above the reservoir to accom-

modate the spawning preferences of the Eagle Lake fish to

get a naturally reproducing population in the reservoir.

Over time, a number of the grayling escaped Zim-

merman, running downstream to Joe Wright. They found the

creek and spawning channel above the reservoir to be ideal

spawning habitat and their population exploded. They even-

tually overtook the lake and outcompeted the cutthroat.

Some Eagle Lake cutthroat are still in the lake but the reser-

voir is predominantly greenback cutthroat (above) and gray-

ling (below).

The grayling were too successful and began to overpopulate the lake. To help combat this trend, tiger

muskie were put into the lake in limited numbers to reduce the numbers. In addition, a small number of fe-

male lake trout were stocked for the same reason. The tigers grow slowly in the cold water but as of 2010,

some fish were reaching 26 inches. Ster-

ile tiger trout (brown trout x brook trout

hybrid) were introduced in 2013 with

the same intent. These additions should

begin to make some significant changes

to the population structure of grayling in

the lake over the next few years. This

should translate to an increase in the

size that grayling are able to achieve in

Joe Wright.





Management Notes

A wider range of grayling sizes and ages has

been developing in Joe Wright for the last few

years. This seems in indicate a shift away from

domination by the oldest year classes and sug-

gests that we may be breaking up the stunted

condition that has persisted in the reservoir.

Hopefully the next year or two will continue

to show an increase in length of the largest fish

in the reservoir as some of the introduced

predators reduce the overall biomass of the

grayling population and free up some additional

forage resources for the remaining fish.

Cutthroat in the reservoir are maintained by stock-

ing and have not changed much over the years but

2013 saw a drop-off of what was an increasing popula-

tion of longnose sucker in the reservoir. These numbers

are relative and do not indicate an overall population

estimate, but we have very standardized nets over time

and the grayling numbers seem to have increased pro-

portionally to the decrease in suckers or we would see

an increase in cutthroat composition as well.

2014 Sampling will show whether this sucker de-

cline was a one time sampling aberration or if we are

seeing a trend in the reservoir.

Grayling length-frequency is still weighted to-

ward the larger, mature fish, indicating the reservoir

still has a stunted condition. Grayling approaching

18 inches were caught in the reservoir shortly after

they were introduced, so we know that the potential

for larger fish that could challenge the state record

exists for this water.





0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Relative Fish Composition


Grayling Cutthroat Longnose Sucker

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Nu

mb

er o

f F

ish

Joe Wright Grayling Age

Composition Estimates

Age 1 Age 2 Age 3 Age 4 Age 5

Grayling Spawn

Joe Wright Reservoir is

the location from which we

take all grayling eggs for the

entire state. The operation will

take up to 250,000 eggs that

go to the Glenwood Hatchery

to meet our request for gray-

ling stocking around the state.

The average grayling pro-

duces around 2000 eggs.

Grayling have a massive

spawning run. They move up

the river together after ice off

and when the flows and tem-

peratures meet their criteria.

This occurs over a short span of just a few days and for

the most part, the fish all move up at once. Thousands

of fish school up in the shallow stream, congregating

together and seeking out and defending the optimal

spawning sites, typically shallow gravel bars. The

males are distinctive with their large colorful dorsal fin

that they use to attract a mate. Unlike salmon, when

they are finished spawning, grayling immediately re-

turn the lake.





joe wright reservoir - colorado parks and wildlife survey summaries... · general information: joe...

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